Measuring the Wealth Effect in Education John Jerrim studied access to high-status universities in Britain, the United States and Australia. At elite private American universities, for example, students are six times as likely to come from a professional as a poor or working class background. (The New York Times)

College debt not just problem in United States More than 50 percent of graduates from countries such as Australia, Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom suffer from debt after they graduate, according to the “Global Debt Patterns” research released by the Educational Policy Institute. (Daily Toreador)

‘Preferred’ pronouns gain traction at U.S. colleges On high school and college campuses and in certain political and social media circles, the growing visibility of a small, but semantically committed cadre of young people who self-identify as “genderqueer” — neither male nor female but an androgynous hybrid or rejection of both — is challenging anew the limits of Western comprehension and the English language. (Associated Press via University Business)

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.